Dr. Gregory D. Scholes is a distinguished scholar and leader in the field of physical chemistry, currently serving as the William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, he completed his postdoctoral training at Imperial College London and the University of California, Berkeley before establishing his independent research career. Dr. Scholes held a distinguished position as the D.J. LeRoy Distinguished Professor at the University of Toronto from 2000 to 2014, where he built a strong foundation for his research program focused on light-matter interactions. He transitioned to Princeton University in 2014, where he served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2020 to 2023, demonstrating significant leadership within the academic community.
Dr. Scholes' groundbreaking research focuses on understanding how complex molecular systems interact with light, employing advanced techniques such as ultrafast lasers and multidimensional electronic spectroscopy to unravel photo-initiated processes. His work bridges quantum physics, chemistry, and biology, with significant contributions to understanding photosynthesis, solar energy conversion, and quantum information science through studies of excitonic materials and photo-activated catalysis. The Scholes Group's interdisciplinary approach combines experimental measurements with quantum chemical calculations to reveal unprecedented details about molecular dynamics, particularly in biological systems. His research has provided seminal insights into nature's ability to harness light for energy conversion, which has implications for developing more efficient solar technologies and understanding quantum effects in biological processes.
As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters since 2019, Dr. Scholes has significantly influenced the direction of research communication in physical chemistry while maintaining an active research program at the forefront of quantum biology. He previously directed BioLEC, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center from 2018 to 2022, and continues to serve as Co-Director of the CIFAR Bio-inspired Solar Energy Program, demonstrating his commitment to large-scale collaborative science. Dr. Scholes has received numerous prestigious honors including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2019, the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award in 2013, and the Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry in 2007. His current research explores the frontiers of quantum biology, strong light-matter coupling, and coherence phenomena in chemical systems, continuing to push the boundaries of understanding how quantum effects manifest in complex biological environments.
